Revolving Loan Funds (RLFs) allow governments to speed up and reduce the costs of socially important investments by providing critical pieces of finance that private capital markets are unable to supply at an acceptable rate, while receiving sufficient enough returns to be self-sustaining. RLFs have a crucial role to play in accelerating the energy transition and catalyzing the potential of the Inflation Reduction Acts (IRAs) provisions to enable a greater public role in the energy sector.

In this report, the Center for Public Enterprise (CPE) illustrates the operations and functions of RLFs more generally and explains how they can play a key role in the development of clean energy. We zero in on how states, municipalities, and instrumentalities can use RLF as part of a broader strategy to mobilize IRA resources such as elective pay and loans from federal agencies such as the Department of Energy. Finally, we provide case studies of successful RLFs from very different contexts to illustrate the different strategies that RLFs can pursue and draw conclusions about where they have potential in the clean energy sector and what further steps need to be taken to maximize their impact.